


Mimic your Weakness

by Heeshura



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: M/M, Omega-M specifically, Other, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 12:12:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16810348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heeshura/pseuds/Heeshura
Summary: Omega is given a second chance at life, Kadovv tries to guide it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i dont think im gonna write anything else to add to this so take it i guess. its using my WoL who's a miqote/lalafell mix (lalaqo'te). think of a taller lalafell with ears+tail and face markings, or just look [here](http://shibuiking.tumblr.com/post/178916833669) and [here](http://shibuiking.tumblr.com/post/179153469819). hes roughly the height of a young teen miqo'te, but is in his 20s.

It had been a week since the Yawn had dried up, and Omega had vanished. Alpha had left on a journey, and Nero had disappeared with nary a word. His disappearance had left an odd atmosphere over the Ironworks’ temporary workshop in Rhalgr’s Reach, Kadovv noticed Cid had been strangely melancholy in the wake of his departure. The world carried on turning regardless, and he knew Cid would come around with time, like every other instance of this happening. Their relationship was a complicated one.  
Kadovv busied himself doing menial errands for the Ala Mhigan Resistance, and helping M’naago with the refugee fund. Anything to get a sense of normalcy back, and to forget the last message Omega had left for him. Alisaie had pointed out his tendency to be a bleeding heart over things that didn’t deserve it, over a few drinks at a warm tavern one night. It wasn’t going anywhere fast apparently.  
He looks over to the corner of his room, graciously given and furnished by M’naago and her people as a thank you gift. A large bucket rests there, a little dented and old, but serves its current purpose well. He can’t see it from his sprawled out position on the bed, but resting in there is a puddle of silver goop. The same stuff he’d seen Omega transform into during their final confrontation, in fact. It made him feel a little guilty, considering what it’d put everyone through, but he couldn’t let himself just leave it there at the bottom of the Yawn. It was only thing that’d been left after the hole had drained out, and it’s a small blessing Kadovv had discovered it before any of the Ironworks had. So it’d sat, in the corner of his room in a bucket, for a week now. He wasn’t even sure what to do with it, and keeping it hidden from Cid would be a weird experience if the engineer ever came calling, but part of him held on to the hope that it’d come to life eventually. If it was even alive at this point, it could be dead for all he knew, or merely resting.  
Kadovv sighs again, and rises from his bed. No reason to be moping around when the sun is still up.

A few days pass the Warrior of Light by, followed by more uneventfully. Eventually two and a half weeks has passed since Omega was defeated, and he’s no closer to understanding what to do with the bucket of goop. He’d moved it under his bed and started using a duvet one size too big, to drape over the sides. He preferred an overlarge duvet anyway, it’s cozy, even though the resistance members had given him odd looks. He were this close to asking Cid for help when he hears a strange squishing noise. His ears stand ramrod straight on his head, and he held himself completely still as he wonders what the hell that disgusting sounding noise was.  
It happens again, and again for a little longer afterwards. Curiosity killed the cat, and he peels back the side of the duvet in a hurry, he catches a glimpse of the silver liquid moving around slowly. He’s too weirded out by the sight to say or do anything. Kadovv stares dumbly for around half a minute, he guesses, and then slowly pulls the bucket out from under his bed and checks that the door is locked and barred.  
“Hey… you good?” His voice comes out a little weak.   
There’s no response other than the shifting and strange noises that reminds him of gorey things you’d rather not think about.   
“I’ll just, uh... Leave you to it then, champ.” Behind him, his tail swishes nervously, bending at an odd angle due to an old wound that had left it crooked. The bucket goes back under the bed, the duvet replaced over it, and he lies slowly back on the bed questioning his actions. Sleep overtakes him slowly as he mulls the thoughts around.

It happens while he was out doing errands for the Ananta in the Fringes. After a long day of heavy lifting and monster culling, he’d returned to his room to see a misshapen hand peeking out from under the duvet. Once again Kadovv is too stunned by the sight to respond appropriately, like screaming or getting the hell out of his room, instead he crouches down and gingerly lifts the edge of the duvet.  
”Excuse me sir you better not be ruinin’ my carpet.” He tuts, speaking loudly to mask the building nerves. “I hope you’re alive to pay for a replacement, that shite costs money.”  
Attached to the shifting hand is an arm, which appears out of the rim of the bucket. He stares for a little while longer, watching as it tries to solidify and fails, parts of the goo falling to the floor like liquid.  
“...Omega? You’re alive, right?” The silence continues for a few seconds before it responds.   
“Damaged. Repairs ongoing. System performance at twelve percent. No mission directive found.” The hand appears to try and retreat back into the bucket, but flops back down with the effort. It tugs his heartstrings a little and he bites his lip.  
He doesn’t know what to say. What are you meant to say to a murderous space robot you kept in your room.  
“Lifeform detected. Identified as member of Alpha group.” It pauses. “With time I can make full repairs. ...I lack the aetherial resources to conjure a replacement to anything I may have ruined.”  
Kadovv laughs loudly, relieved, before catching himself and hoping no-one else was around to think he was cackling to himself. “I was jokin’. Mostly.” A pause. “I’m glad you’re okay though, those last words were way too depressin’ y’know?”  
There’s no response from the bucket, the hand finally gets enough energy to disappear behind the rim.  
“I no longer feel the compulsion to carry out the will of my programming. My mission directive is null.”  
“No more killin’ us all in the name of evolution?” It sounds too good to be true, but he isn’t one to look a gift robot in the mouth, as it were. Omega takes a while to respond to his words, obviously trying to understand it’s current situation.  
“ ...I suppose not.”  
Kadovv’s face lights up and he shakes the bucket excitedly as the tip of his tail curls behind him. “Then you should think about just livin’ with us! Like Alpha has.”   
“For the first time since I was created, I don’t know what to do. All energy resources are allocated to repairs at this time. Reconfiguring directives, entering dormant state.” He feels a little snubbed with that response. It was avoiding his question in its own weird way, but Kadovv supposes it hardly has experience with human intera- “Good night.”  
He sighs and leans back on his hands, beaming to himself. “G’night.”

Kadovv wakes up the next day with nary a sound or movement from under his bed. He’d taken a peek underneath out of curiosity, but nothing had changed. Same old motionless slime bucket. That day had been a little more eventful that he was used to in the wake of Hydaelyn’s latest world ending threat being vanquished (sort of). A giant antlion had decided that today was a wonderful day to ruin someone else’s, and naturally the illustrious Warrior of Light had been the one to deal with it. Unfortunately he’d also stupidly not wrapped his knuckles tight enough that morning and is now dealing with a very sore and bloody set of knuckles. He’d waved the healers away quickly, too embarrassed to deal with any of that. A hard carapace was normally no trouble at all thanks to the magically enhanced arm and leg wraps he’d worked hard to nab from Rowena… but only when he actually wore them correctly.   
Cid had stared at him with a wry smile on his face when Kadovv had walked past him on the engineer’s break, on the way back to his room to lick his wounds. Smug bastard had warned him about this numerous times already. Kadovv stuck his tongue out at him in response.  
The door to his room is locked behind him, and he ungracefully falls into the cushions he’d piled on the floor in lieu of a sofa or chair. Floor is comfy, he’d insisted to the once again baffled Resistance members.  
“You’ve sustained damage.” Came a muffled voice. He sighs.  
“Yeah yeah, whatever. It’ll heal up soon. Don’t need you harpin’ on at me as well.” The wrappings had been removed, leaving the bloody knuckles exposed to the air, he hisses in pain. His legs fared much better thankfully, otherwise he’d be nursing broken bones.  
“I was aware some mortals fought without weapons, but it seems counterproductive when you compare the probability of harming yourself with harming the enemy.”   
A pout makes its way onto his face, despite that Omega probably wouldn’t see it. What the hell does he know though. “Maybe to somethin’ that doesn’t know jack shite about martial arts.”

The bucket clangs on the floor as a torso appears from under the duvet, Kadovv looks on at one of Omega’s human forms in surprise. Only the torso however, too shapeless to see which one it was, he assumed the rest was still staining his floor in a gooey mess.   
“Feelin’ well enough to come say hello, then?”  
“Systems running at twenty percent. I’d estimate I have roughly the same amount of processing power as one of your kind right now. If I had to describe it in one of your expressions, I would say it is… depressing.”  
It’s giving Kadovv a deadpan expression that has him squinting in his indignance. “You really don’t know when to shut up do you.”  
“I do not possess extensive data on mortal interaction.”

He soon decided that he’d had enough with the snark this thing had suddenly developed and went back to messily trying to clean his busted knuckles.  
“It ain’t that I couldn’t use a weapon if I wanted to, just that nothin’ else feels as good as the impact of hittin’ nasties with your bare hands. That ‘n it sounds cool when I say a punch gods with my bare hands for a livin’.  
It’s an ancient art you know. The old masters all figured out ways to not break your hands in the process, and to do things that a weapon user can’t. I’m just an idiot who doesn’t follow most of it. It’s best to do whatever’s fun I think, who cares if you get all messed up as long as you’re havin’ a good time scrappin’!”  
“Fighting… for pleasure?” It perks its head up curiously.  
“Ah, I guess you wouldn’t know about that.”  
Omega goes quiet, and Kadivv doesn’t know what else to say. He senses the atmosphere getting a little awkward for his tastes, though he knows the robo-thing at his side wouldn’t pick up on it, it feels right to steer the conversation elsewhere.  
“What form are you gonna use? There was three you had, right? You should use one of the human ones more, if you try livin’ like one of us you might learn some stuff.”  
“I cannot create a new form in my current state of repair. However a form in the image of your kind requires very little energy to retain, either will suffice.”  
“Gotta be the dude one.” He answers without hesitation, ignoring the jab at Spoken races again. A second later he feels the shyness set in, but he tries to push it out of his mind with the justification that it’s not like Omega would understand anyway.  
The silver torso-shaped mass begins to change and shudder, solidifying into the form he’d first seen at the end of the Alphascape. Still breathtakingly handsome. He was curious about the origins of both of the forms, since he supposed it must have pulled them out of its ass, but he didn’t feel courageous enough to ask now.  
“We should get you some casual clothes when you’re feelin’ up to walkin’ around. I can take you on a tour.”  
“Not required, but if you insist. It could provide further insight into your kind.” With that, it seemed like it was done with conversation for the day. Omega retreated back under Kadovv’s bed sluggishly, looking as if it was tired with the exertion. He wonders if it knew what kind of face it was making.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bunch of extra bits in (sort of) chronological order

At dinner later, one of the few times the Ironworks employees actually come out of their caves to eat, Kadovv is approached by Cid, who wears a sly grin on his face. He squints back, hair raised in suspicion. "Whatever's gonna come outta your mouth, I don't rightly imagine i'm gonna like it. Spit it out."  
"Oh don't be like that old friend, i'm happy you've finally started putting yourself out there. There's been a little bet on at the workshop over when you'd start bringing people home." Cid winks and pats him on the shoulder. "The walls of your room are pretty thick you know, the old Ala Mhigan architects really knew how to build a good room."  
He saunters off with a smirk to join Biggs and Wedge at the table, leaving Kadovv stunned and his ears twitching on his head in embarrassment. He'd had the thought to correct him on his mistake, but upon second thought it'd be easier for Cid to assume he’d brought a suitor to his room, rather than knowing he’s sheltering the weakened state of the being that'd spent the last month trying to kill everyone.  
He sighs, and begin forking slabs of meat into his bowl.

\---

Nightmares were a common occurrence for Kadovv, being the realm’s caretaker meant seeing things most common folk wouldn’t dare think of. Normally he’d just try to shake the sleep off and busy himself for a while, then try sleeping again later. A book was usually nice, but only when there was enough light to read. This time, half asleep, he drags himself off the bed with the duvet and rolls under the bed, his padded side knocking gently into the bucket that Omega rests in. Kadovv had no idea if the thing even slept like ‘mortals’ did and quite frankly didn’t care if he’d woken it up. Only the deep seated need for companionship registered in his sleep addled mind.  
He swiped blindly at the edge of the bucket, settling for banging on the side weakly after a few failed attempts to reach inside.  
“Is this another mortal activity I was unaware of?” Omega’s voice is as clear and unwavering as ever, it kind of pissed him off.  
“Shut up ‘n get outta there a sec.” He mumbles back in a slurred voice.  
With blessed relief he feels the goo begin to shift and he takes his hand back while Omega solidifies. He’s tempted to reach out anyway but he also doesn’t wanna know what’d happen to his hand if it got caught in the stuff midway. It pokes his cheek to signify that it’s done doing whatever it needed to, since even with his catlike senses it’s still too dark under the bed to see.  
Kadovv chooses not to justify himself, doesn’t feel like it right then, and gropes for the hand that’d poked him. His hand ends up in some places he’s not sure what to identify as, but Omega gets the idea and puts its hand in his. It doesn’t say anything either, as if sensing the atmosphere. Kadovv wonders if it’s getting better at picking up subtle cues like that now.  
He decides to throw caution into the wind and sort of… half roll, half flail his other arm around, until he’s got Omega pinned onto the floor. It’s a little more apparent when he’s holding more of its body, but it’s ever so slightly cold and even though he knows it probably doesn’t feel cold or warm, he tosses one corner of the duvet over its shoulder anyway. If nothing else, it made himself feel less cold.  
He wonders if there’s any other way he’d rather spend his night, than recovering from nightmares he doesn’t want to speak of whilst holding a cold humanoid robot under his bed rather than on it, and decides that no, this is exactly where he wants to be. He hugs Omega properly and rests his head under its chin, too tired to feel shy or embarrassed and relishing the extra contact between their hands.   
“Thanks.” He whispers as his eyelids begin to feel heavy and he leaves Omega on its own to wonder what exactly is happening, and what the warm feeling in its chest is.

\---

“I have observed that the longer I stay in mortal form, the more I unconsciously adopt your way of thinking and feeling.”  
It comes out of nowhere. Kadovv is lazing around in the sunny spot on his rug, the sun at its apex in the sky and no demanding missions or requests to drag him away from it. He turns to look at the gap between his bed and the floor, and is greeted by the sight of a perplexed Omega-M. He’s not about to say it out loud but its a cute expression.  
“I feel like you mentioned somethin’ about that during our fight too, right? Ain’t that why you kept switchin’ at first?”  
“Correct. It felt like I was… getting carried away.”  
“You think that’s a good thing or a bad thing?”   
Silence. Kadovv turns to look at Omega and is surprised by the close proximity. He’d been so blissed out he hadn’t heard it shift over, it’s hand awfully close to his flicking tail. “Well I think it’s a good thing. You don’t have to be alone anymore now, so you may as well enjoy the company.”  
“...Affirmative.”  
Kadovv smiles and closes his eyes again, settling his head back down onto his arms. “Why not start with a bit of communal nappin’? I know you don’t gotta sleep but it’s a cat tradition, and I’m too lazy to do anythin’ else right now.”  
He feels Omega shift slightly, as if internally debating it’s next move, and then slowly lying down in front of him. He opens his eye a crack and can tell that it doesn’t really know what to do with itself.  
“C’mere.” He reaches out, pulling it further into the sunny patch and draping his torso over it’s chest. “S’all about the contact.”  
In lieu of a response, it puts an arm around his back. Kadovv can’t help the beaming smile that grows on his face.

\---

He’s surprised it took this long for Omega to ask about his heritage, since it seemed to already know about the Spoken races of Hydaelyn, but the question comes to him one morning and he can tell Omega has thought it over a little while he was sleeping.  
“My friends affectionately refer to me as a Lalaqo’te. I never knew my parents but one must’ve been a Lalafell and the other a Miqo’te.” Kadovv grimaces a little before continuing. “People like me… ain’t rightly welcome usually. It’s taboo. Not that it makes any sense, considering everyone an’ their mothers are dying to blitz a miqo’te or two.”  
“That would explain your unusual body type and features. There’s no others like you?”  
“I know of an Elezen and Hyur lady, but that’s it.” Omega makes an affirmative hum and that seems to be that, but Kadovv feels compelled to expand anyway.”I was raised by the Amalj’aa living in Thanalan, s’why I do a lot of things different compared to other people. Learnt to work with metal mostly, but this Warrior of Light business has me on the front lines instead.” He sighs. “That an’ I’d never get anywhere tryna make nice things with Rowena around.”  
“Your name… I presume it’s also Amalj’aan?”  
“Kadovv Boh. Yep. The Boh part means I’m a tribe blacksmith. ...I hope I can go back someday, I miss my home.”  
“That is a feeling I think I understand well.”  
He grins at Omega with a bittersweet twinge. “Maybe one day we can both go home, I’ll take you to come see it too if you let me see yours.”

\---

He takes Omega out for a walk eventually, after painstakingly picking an outfit for it despite it’s assurances that it doesn’t need anything. Kadovv thinks the stylish leather jacket and white vest suits it well, matched with black and silver bottoms and knee high boots. A call to his steadfast compatriot Redolent Rose had gotten the matter sorted out fast. If he didn’t already know what it was, he’d have thought it was just another deathly pale midlander foreigner, but he did know and so did Cid. Luckily Cid rarely ever went out of his workshop, so he was able to smuggle Omega out without a word.  
“I was under the impression that you lived in well furnished cities, and yet there’s so much rubble here.”  
Kadovv scratches the back of his neck, feeling a little slighted. “We’re workin’ on it! This country is recoverin’ from a war, so there’s all kindsa issues here and there. The reason why i’m gone all day most days is ‘cause i’m helpin’ out with reconstruction.”  
“I see. There’s a lot of history here, can you tell me about the monuments?” Omega is holding its chin and looking around with wide eyes, making Kadovv wish he’d listened more to the Scions telling him about the culture. But he hadn’t.  
“I uh… can’t help much actually.”  
“Aren’t the Monks from Ala Mhigo? You’re a member of their order.”  
That has him sweating bullets. “W-well… yeah. That sorta stuff tends to go in one ear and out the other. I have a bad memory!”  
He gets a blank, slightly irritated looking, stare for his troubles.  
“I can take us to a friend who does know though! Maybe.”  
“Go on then.”

It’s sunset by time they finish touring Rhalgr’s Reach and parts of the Fringes with Wiscar, who also wasn’t completely sure about some landmarks but it seemed to be enough to sate Omega’s curiosity. They’d bid the plucky man goodbye and decided to rest on top of one of the dilapidated pillars in the Reach. Getting up there had been no problem for Kadovv’s catlike reflexes but Omega had been a little out of its element, helping it up would be a memory he’d treasure.  
“How you feelin’?” He turns to it with a contented smile.  
“I think I had fun. It was enlightening, I feel like I can understand the people here better now.”  
“You think?” He snorts. “Well fair enough. It’s been a while since i’ve taken a breather like that, I know I enjoyed myself.”  
“I had assumed. I can still monitor your stress levels.” It has a little smirk on its face that makes Kadovv want to push it off the column. He settles for a squinty glare and lies down on his back.   
“You’ve never asked about Alpha.”  
“I… don’t have a reason to.” Kadovv sees it tense up a little out of the corner of his eye.  
“Well I’ll tell you anyway then, ‘cause you should know. He decided he wanted to see more of the world, like you, and left on a journey. Before he left, I heard his voice.” He sits back up, looking Omega square in the eyes. “I dunno if you know what that means, but the blessin’ of light lets me understand languages that aren’t my own. As long as the being speakin’ it has a soul, or whatever.”  
“A soul… is what you and the other man were referring to after I was defeated.”  
“Well, he went a little overboard with the cheesy parts maybe, but yeah. Somethin’ like that. My point is that if Alpha can have one, there’s no reason why you can’t.” Kadovv grins warmly. “Who knows, maybe you already do! You’ll always have a place here, yeah?”  
“I’m not sure I deserve it… but thank you.” Omega is avoiding eye contact, but he can tell its out of embarrassment, a first from the robot.

\---

“You know, it’s a little irritating when we’re stood next to each other and I’m only as tall as your waist.”  
Omega glances down at him a blank expression on it face. Kadovv’s tail swishes a little in annoyance.  
“You’re too tall! You’re taller than normal midlanders as well, can’t you make yourself a little smaller?”  
It ignores the jab he makes to its side and holds its chin in a thoughtful pose. “I suppose… I hadn’t considered it since you said you liked this form.”  
“You’re feelin’ well enough to edit a little now right? Stop straining my neck and make yourself my height!”  
He was expecting Omega to fall to the floor as goop, but he wasn’t expecting the form to come back out to have cat ears and a tail. It looked exactly like a Lalaqo’te, like himself. “Ah.”  
“You don’t like it?” It adopts the thinking pose from before, and Kadovv blissfully doesn’t have to break his neck to appreciate it this time.  
“N-no, it’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting...It’s nice! Mmmm, comfortable? I’ve never seen anyone else at this height before that wasn’t a pre-teen miqo’te ahah...”  
“A form like this is very nimble and fast, I can see the advantages to employing your methods of combat with it.”


End file.
